By Chris Oddo | Thursday July 27, 2018
Nick Kyrgios needed just 56 minutes to defeat Noah Rubin and reach the quarterfinals at the BBT Atlanta Open.
Photo Source: Kevin C. Cox/Getty
2016 champion Nick Kyrgios picked up where he left off at the BBT Atlanta Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Noah Rubin on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals.
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The 23-year-old Aussie improved to 5-0 lifetime at Atlanta and 19-7 on the season and set up a quarterfinal clash with Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Norrie claimed his 10th win of the season on Thursday by defeating France’s Jeremy Chardy 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. The 22-year-old has become quite a story on tour this year—he began 2018 with just two tour-level wins to his name.
"It's good to see him coming through and having some great results,” Kyrgios said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. “He's a tricky player, he's a lefty, great backhand. Lefties are always tough on a surface like this. I'm going to go out there, nothing's going to change on my end. I'm going to serve big, play big and we'll see how it goes."
Kyrgios was locked in a close battle with Rubin until he finally converted his third break point of the 12th game of the opening set to take opener. He rifled a crosscourt forehand at the end of a long rally to complete the stanza but he was broken early in set two before he responded with three more breaks of his own to win going away in just 56 minutes.
It was an impressive serving performance from Kyrgios who hammered 15 aces and dropped just eight points on serve overall.
In other action on Thursday at Atlanta American Frances Tiafoe fell to veteran Marcos Baghdatis, 7-5, 6-1. Tiafoe dropped eight of nine games from 5-5 in the first set and appeared to wilt in the mid-afternoon heat of Atlanta.
Fourth-seeded Matthew Ebden was also a winner on Thursday. The 30-year-old won his first career meeting with Donald Young, 6-4, 6-4.
The quarterfinals in Atlanta shape up as follows: